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Editorial
We were mostly pleased with a compromise that was reached recently to approve a state budget by negotiators from the Democratic-controlled General Assembly and Republican administration of Gov. Glenn Youngkin. One portion of the myriad particulars of the compromise legislation we found objectionable, however, was the abandonment of efforts to have Virginia remain in the multi-state Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative. The Richmond Times-Dispatch reported last week that Virginia’s withdrawal of this initiative to cut greenhouse gases is going to cost the state an estimated $150 million annually. The state can ill afford to forgo this enormous amount of money, given that federal assistance from pandemic-era largess is slated to dry up in coming years. Participation in RGGI made not only environmental sense but economic sense as well.
The way RGGI works, according to its website, is that participating states “set a limit on CO2 emissions. Facilities that emit CO2 must buy allowances that equal their emissions. The RGGI states sell allowances and invest the funds from these sales into energy efficiency improvements, clean energy, bill assistance and other programs to deliver benefits to their communities.”
RGGI cites independent reports from the Analysis Group which found that RGGI has added thousands of jobs to participating states and generated billions in economic benefits since it was founded in 2009. Virginia’s participation, from 2021 to 2023, allowed the state to receive hundreds of millions of dollars for energy efficiency and flood prevention projects.
Youngkin’s argument against RGGI is that forcing utilities that produce energy to pay for their carbon emissions amounts to a “hidden tax” that is passed on to consumers in the form of higher energy bills. The counter argument that we endorse is that there is an obvious cost for carbon emissions that must be considered when accounting for what we pay for fossil fuel consumption.
Climate change through global warming is real. Future generations are going to pay a heavy price for our inability to come to grips with this existential threat. The evidence is all around us. Fires, floods, landslides, melting glaciers, rising coastal waterways – all are warning signs that ought to get our attention. Extreme weather is battering the planet and causing enormous suffering and hardships. It’s only going to get worse if we fail to heed these warnings.
RGGI is a collaborative effort by multiple mostly northeastern states to take action to combat the very real dangers of global warning. We regret that Virginia is no longer a part of this initiative.
